Wedding group photos – cocktails & aperitif

After the ceremony, I suggest you head to the drinks reception and start enjoying yourselves. You can talk to your guests and mingle and enjoy the fact that you are now married – mission accomplished!
Should you have a very large wedding party and want everyone photographing then I can bring another photographer who will focus on the guests.
The cocktails are the time for you to just relax, soak up the atmosphere and have a good time.
Group Photos
At some stage during the cocktails, we will also take some group photos with family and the bridal party. If you don’t want to do any group photos that’s fine. But if you do, then I suggest you write a list this way we can avoid any issues on the day. I can’t write this for you as I don’t know who is in your family and the relationships between the people. A list will help you avoid forgetting someone important. I will bring the list with me and the best man can also keep a copy in his jacket pocket.
In order to calculate how much time is required to do the groups, I would estimate about 90 seconds per group photo. This seems quick but if you think that you may require 20 group photos then that means it could take 30 mins. The time is a guide and it may take much less but it could take more
Create A List To Make It Easier
Here’s a guide to some of the group photos you might want to consider. A lot will also depend on your actual family members and relations. Remember it is just a guide to consider and help you produce your own list.
I recommend you try and keep the family photos list as short as possible. Seeing as you are having a destination wedding I am sure that people will be with you for a few days before the wedding so perhaps you can take less essential group photos with other guests on the other days.
To help speed up the process, whilst we take the photos the best man or relative who knows everyone at the wedding can help gather the next group and make sure they are ready for their photo.
Group Photo Suggestions
- Bride + brides parents
- Bride + brothers and sisters
- Bride + brides parents + brothers and sisters
- Bride + Groom + brides parents + brothers and sisters
- Bride + brides close family + brides extended family
- Bride + Groom + brides close family + brides extended family
- Groom + grooms parents
- Groom + brothers and sisters
- Groom + grooms parents + brothers and sisters
- Groom + Bride + grooms parents + brothers and sisters
- Groom + grooms close family + grooms extended family
- Groom + Bride + grooms close family + grooms extended family
- Bride + bridesmaids
- Bride + Groom + bridesmaids + groomsmen
- Groom + best men
- Bride + Groom + EVERYONE!
Next, you can read about the bridal party and bride getting ready or the photography of the groom getting ready.
Sample photos for this part of the day
Enjoy these photos of groups, families and people taken during cocktails at various wedings in Italy.
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- Jules is a very talented and professional photographer. He took our wedding photos in Lake Como. I wanted our photos to be natural poses with excellent light. and they were all very much on brief. on the day Jules was ........Sinem & Luca
Jules is a very talented and professional photographer. He took our wedding photos in Lake Como.
I wanted our photos to be natural poses with excellent light. and they were all very much on brief. on the day Jules was very professional. it felt like he was invisible yet managed to capture great moments. great experience.
I would definitely work with him again for another special occasion.
- Jules is one of the best photographers I know. We did our wedding in Venice, and he made his way to travel and did our wedding day captured with great quality photos. He made everything else easy during our shoot. He is ........Faith Antiporta
Jules is one of the best photographers I know. We did our wedding in Venice, and he made his way to travel and did our wedding day captured with great quality photos.
He made everything else easy during our shoot. He is very professional and knows what is best for his clients. He is fun to work with. We highly recommend him as one of the best photographers in Italy.
Thank you so much, Jules, for making our extra wedding special!
- Can't recommend Jules enough! Neither my husband or I are comfortable in front of a camera, but Jules made us both at ease and got shots of us we never would have dreamed possible. The turnaround on getting the images ........Jade Beatson
Can’t recommend Jules enough! Neither my husband or I are comfortable in front of a camera, but Jules made us both at ease and got shots of us we never would have dreamed possible.
The turnaround on getting the images back to us was fast, he was super easy to work with and despite meeting him for the first time just the day before, he felt like one of our friends at our wedding. Jules, next time you’re in Scotland give us a shout for a beer!
- As a bride, you worry about EVERYTHING that involves your wedding, even things not in your control, like the weather. The ONLY thing I never had to worry about was my photographer, Jules. He was absolutely amazing to ........Liz Groh
As a bride, you worry about EVERYTHING that involves your wedding, even things not in your control, like the weather. The ONLY thing I never had to worry about was my photographer, Jules.
He was absolutely amazing to work with before the wedding, during and after. He was always professional, responsive to my emails and organized.
My husband and I aren’t the most comfortable in front of the camera, so we were a little nervous on how the photos would turn out, but we should’ve know that Jules captured our wedding day perfectly.
The photos are absolutely lovely and brilliant-they are pieces of art that I hang in my house. I would 100% recommend Jules, he is worth it.
- Jules is an amazing photographer, the photos we have from our wedding are simply beautiful and have a romantic feel to them which really captures the atmosphere. Everyone who sees them has commented on how incredible ........Maalini Patel
Jules is an amazing photographer, the photos we have from our wedding are simply beautiful and have a romantic feel to them which really captures the atmosphere. Everyone who sees them has commented on how incredible the photos are.
Jules had an incredible knowledge of the venue and chose the best areas for every photo to ensure we were given the most stunning photos and memories. He worked with our planner regarding timings to ensure we were able to have sunset photos, and ensured we all kept to time throughout the day.
He was professional and organised throughout. Communication was excellent, especially as we had to reschedule our wedding 3 times.
We received the final photos just a few weeks after the wedding which was a lovely surprise, and are really happy with them.
We have always felt apprehensive about having our photos taken but were immediately put at ease by Jules and he ensured he captured us at our best. He was easy to work with and was an unassuming part of wedding, making sure everyone was relaxed and guided us to achieve the best images.
We would highly recommend Jules to anyone looking for a wedding photographer, especially in Italy where he has such vast knowledge of the areas and the venues.
- For those who are thinking about having a destination wedding or elopement in Italy - please please chose Jules Bower as your professional wedding photographer! Our big home wedding was cancelled due to COVID 19 and not ........Corrina Jung
For those who are thinking about having a destination wedding or elopement in Italy – please please chose Jules Bower as your professional wedding photographer!
Our big home wedding was cancelled due to COVID 19 and not wanting to plan everything all over again – my husband and I had decided to elope in Italy instead.
I first reached out to Jules via email and he responded right away. I told him what my vision was and he was quick to help us out with providing us with different options in venues and vendors. Everything went so smoothly in planning for our big day!
On our big day – Jules is someone who knows what he wants and he will 150% make sure you are getting thee best! We were literally chasing the sun making sure we got alll the shots possible!
My husband & I are very camera shy and when I got my pictures – I couldn’t be more happy with how everything turned out – our candid shots were our favorite. He was able to capture our relationship to the dot!
We were also surprised with how fast we got our pictures back 🙂 Just in time for the holidays!
If you guys are on the fence of eloping or doing a destination wedding in Italy – let me help you – just DO IT! You won’t regret working with Jules!
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